MSR’s Innovative Backcountry Gear for Skiing & Snowshoeing
How smart engineering created these highly efficient, easy to use snow tools.
How smart engineering created these highly efficient, easy to use snow tools.
For some, winter adventures in the backcountry mean snow camping, for others, backcountry skiing. Whether you see yourself building a snow shelter or checking snow conditions this season, you’ll need snow tools you can rely on to deliver unmatched performance in the field. Developing gear that’s safer and easier to use is something MSR has been doing for more than five decades, and it’s a focus that has led to innovations in snow tools, including our new snow saws. But first, a little history…
A look at how we make our mountaineering snow fluke and picket in Seattle.
Photos and words by Scott Rinckenberger This spring, I had the pleasure of shooting the photography that will be used by MSR in the marketing materials for their new Snow Tools line of products. In an impressive effort to round out their hardware offerings to support backcountry travel, MSR’s new Shovels, Probes and Snow Saws are smartly designed and intended for professional use. In order to reinforce this commitment to professional quality in the new products, it was important to MSR that we photograph the gear being put through the paces of an actual practice use scenario. To that end, they recruited long time collaborator, ski patroller, ski guide and NWAC field observer Jeff Hambelton to lead myself and a couple of Baker pros on a mission to take field observations…